Rasmussen, Halfdan.

Rasmussen, Halfdan (b. Jan. 29, 1915, Copenhagen, Den.)

Danish poet of social protest and writer of nonsense verse.

In Rasmussen's early poetry collections, Soldat eller menneske(1941; "Soldier or Human Being") and Digte under Besaettelsen (1945; "Poems During the Occupation"), a collection of protest poems published during the German occupation of Denmark, he documents his various experiences from the war years with simplicity and sincerity. His work of the late 1940s is pessimistic and despairing. In Pa knae for livet (1948; "Kneeling to Life") and Den som har set september (1949; "The One who Experienced September") the poet rejects all political systems and ideologies. In a didactic poem on his time, "Generation," from the collection Forventning (1951; "Expectation"), Rasmussen characterized the despair and anxiety that followed the bombing of Hiroshima. He also wrote poetry about his travels, children's verse, and nonsense verse.